VoiP phone system for small business

aaronklaw

aaronklaw

Law Ninja
Aug 8, 2010
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Scottsdale, Arizona
www.aaronkellylaw.com
Ok so we currently have a 4 line system at the office that is hooked into an NEC DSX-40. I have one of those fugly handset lifters with headsets for me, but our secretary needs to be able to handle 4 lines (giggidy) without having the fucking handset go up and down. So we're thinking of switching to a VOIP system. It would be nice, but most of these fucking phone companies are about as shady as lawyers (fuck yea!). So i'm looking at any options. This one guy is trying to sell me the Avaya IP500 v2 6 phone, 4 line system for like 2200.

I'm pretty sure we got raped by the last guy so I dont want to get raped again. Unless it's by ly2 or .hack since they have micropenis.

IDEAS? Should I stay with the current NEC system? What's better out there? We have to have 4 lines, and be able to transfer calls to cell phones etc. Also I'd like to be able to send calls to skype or use my headset both with my PC, Phone, and cell. Right now I have 2 bluetooth headsets and I dont want to add a third if I dont have to.

thanks!
 


Don't know much about the hardware unfortunately, but we use SIP trunks from bandwidth.com. Have always been solid and priced good. They have simpler options as well, since I doubt you'll want to go the SIP trunk route.

Most phone systems are incredibly overpriced, so doing your homework is important. If you're technical and want to keep it cheap: PBX in a Flash
 
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If you are looking to replace a PBX system, then nortel phones are just awesome. With SIP built on top of the plain vanilla SIP system, you can hook up google voice and seamlessly make and take calls via your mobile which are actually placed from your PBX and not mobile. You save money both ways.

If you want a simple Voip system, i would recommend nextiva. I know these guys very well if you need some special attention, let me know.
 
vinnythejinny said:
If you are looking to replace a PBX system, then nortel phones are just awesome. With SIP built on top of the plain vanilla SIP system, you can hook up google voice and seamlessly make and take calls via your mobile which are actually placed from your PBX and not mobile. You save money both ways.

If you want a simple Voip system, i would recommend nextiva. I know these guys very well if you need some special attention, let me know.
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Id like that actually, thanks! have them email me aaron (at) aaronkellylaw (dot) com
 
Ive beeN using ringcentral for the past year. For 99 bucks a month you get 4 local lines, an 800 number, a fax number (my fax is an 888) and the ability to ad unlimited extensions

You control everything online, can set up answering rules, menus, voicemail. I set up my faxes and voicemail to go to my email and there's an app for using your smartphone.
You can call out on your smartphone as if you were calling from your business line.
I'm in one office on MWF and another office on Tues & Thurs. I have it set up for the 800 number to follow me to whatever office I'm in based on the day and time. After hours goes to a menu

Support is good too, they helped me set up everything
 
I have played around with VOIP and PBX systems a bit before and I've run into the same problem as you that they are expensive and companies try to rape you when it comes to pricing them out for ya. More so down here in Costa Rica.

I think part of this is what you might need in future, as that will determine what kind of system you should get now as you don't want to have to upgrade the entire system again in 3 years.

For example you could buy a simple PC which can handle Asterisk (Linux - you would have someone set it up). Asterisk is free, but last time I checked required the Digium cards (they vary in price depending on what you need). This gives you the most flexibility but then again is some what of a home brew and may require someone on call to help you out if you have a problem. By flexibility I mean it. You can use almost any IP phone on the market as long as it can get a SIP trunk. I like Cisco IP phones as they worked very well for us.

Another option would be Skype Business. We have this solution running for one of my businesses now and it works well enough.

With technology heading the way it is you might even be able to find a cloud based PBX essentially eliminating the local Asterisk box and providing a Cloud PBX as the gateway for your IP phones. I guess you could look at this as Shared Hosting vs Dedicated.

I would highly recommend the IP phone route. Also if you got the hosted PBX route you can usually get apps or tie their system into your cell phone so you turn your cell into an extension of your system.
 
:drinkup:thank you
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nickCR said:
I have played around with VOIP and PBX systems a bit before and I've run into the same problem as you that they are expensive and companies try to rape you when it comes to pricing them out for ya. More so down here in Costa Rica.

I think part of this is what you might need in future, as that will determine what kind of system you should get now as you don't want to have to upgrade the entire system again in 3 years.

For example you could buy a simple PC which can handle Asterisk (Linux - you would have someone set it up). Asterisk is free, but last time I checked required the Digium cards (they vary in price depending on what you need). This gives you the most flexibility but then again is some what of a home brew and may require someone on call to help you out if you have a problem. By flexibility I mean it. You can use almost any IP phone on the market as long as it can get a SIP trunk. I like Cisco IP phones as they worked very well for us.

Another option would be Skype Business. We have this solution running for one of my businesses now and it works well enough.

With technology heading the way it is you might even be able to find a cloud based PBX essentially eliminating the local Asterisk box and providing a Cloud PBX as the gateway for your IP phones. I guess you could look at this as Shared Hosting vs Dedicated.

I would highly recommend the IP phone route. Also if you got the hosted PBX route you can usually get apps or tie their system into your cell phone so you turn your cell into an extension of your system.
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I like nortel phones, used a few for clients, very reliable, and relatively inexpensive solution.
 
If you're from Portland you can probably use my provider RIO Communications with Cisco 3600 phones and headsets. It's a really slick setup you can customize a million ways.
 
If you're still looking for VoIP/SIP solutions, try OnSIP. I market OnSIP, but you don't have to take my word for it. Just google us and check out the customer raves. Our site has a very authoritative phone review section, which might come in handy for you. Our service itself is very efficient and no-frills and you're able to bring you existing SIP phones along. Our support team is knowledgable, so they'll guide you though the set up and also tackle every firewall, server or other technical question you may have. Call us at 1800-801-3381or visit our site OnSIP | VoIP Business Phone Service | Hosted PBX.
 
[FONT=&quot]You can try Hosted PBX services. I have been using this system for almost seven months now. All hardware is set up and maintained by service provider and everything is configured by them. There is also an option to transfer calls to your cell phone or home phone, if required. Skype calling is enabled. As far as the headset is concerned, I also use one Bluetooth headset with my phone, PC and cell and it works fine. [/FONT]
 
Do not out source to the VOIP companies unless you want telemarketers calling you; many of the VOIP companies sell your information to telemarketers and then they make money by billing you for the incoming calls (if you do not have an unlimited plan).

I have some legacy numbers (previous office phone#s) with a VOIP company and all I get on the those lines are telemarketers. fucking annoying.
 
Polycom has the best sound quality VOIP phones on the market. I have been told by many people in the VOIP industry that Polycom phones are the preferred choice (easy to configure too) followed by Aastra (also very easy to configure). AAstra has decent sound quality and some different/extra features that Polycom does not have.

I just ordered the Polycom IP 670 and should have it this week; HD Voice :rolleyes: which they trademarked. I am trashing the Cisco 7960 phones that I have (they suck and sound like crap).

I would recommend PBX in A Flash (google it), PIAF is an opensource GUI that runs off of Asterisk. PIAF is actively supported and updated, some of the other GUIs for Asterisk have been EOL'ed. I am currently using Trixbox which is another GUI for Asterisk but they haven't released an update since 2010.

Last week I started rebuilding my PBX system; I've had a digium 4-line POTS card (~$300) for about 5 years without any issues and I am building a new server ($400 for the hardware which is overkill for Asterisk but I didn't want any problems) and installing PBX in A Flash, I am paying someone $350 to configure the box for me and getting the Polycom phones. I expect to have a quality sounding VOIP/POTS PBX system that can do whatever I need it to in the future (build it once and build it right). I hate when I call a business and they are using a VOIP system and you hear all the echo and jitter; it is very unprofessional.

If you decide to go with an outsourced VOIP system be sure to get their Server IP address and Ping it to see the Latency (optimal is less than 50ms and VOIP falls apart before 200ms). High Latency is a killer to the sound quality and the call. I currently use a VOIP provider with a NYC POP (i am in NY) and it is only a few ms for me and the quality is pretty good but not great. I've used another services in Denver and they sucked because of the latency. I really recommend keeping your phone system in-house because the quality will be better and you'll have more control over it.

The other thing is that if you build your own system make sure that you have everything locked down because if someone hacks your phone system you can end up with a huge international phone bill. That is why I am having someone configure my system for me (I've know him for 10 years and trust him).
 
We played with VOIP for a full year before we had a proper setup, here is my suggestion

1 cisco Switch With public zone and private zone (cost us $300 or so)
2nd Box for firewall (centos 6gb ram)
Download asterisk on a centos box , 6gb ram , 2 NIC cards
NIC 1 - Public Zone for internet, NIC 2 private for internal network

We used polycom phones, they pretty much setup on thier own, minus editing the web config files and entering a username and password

We use unlimitel as a provided with 4 DID's cost us less than $50 a month running a 10 man call center.

Hire a network tech to setup the box's ethernet and private ips internally, and harden the box... the way we protected the system is only let internal ips VPN into the system and all public connections are blocked , changed default ports etc

Get 2 static ips as well.

If you have questions hit me up
 
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